Page 95 of Cloak of the Vampire
Thinking about Margarita, however, made me scrap that last notion.
“Two hundred!” Kaylon called now. “I see three hundred! Do we have three fifty? We have five hundred right there by Lord Renaldi himself! Anyone else? Going once ... going twice ... sold right back to Lord Renaldi!”
“Stupid girl,” the woman next to me spat.
“I didn’t know the Lords could buy their own vampires back for the second time in a row,” I said, not commenting on the fact a vampire’s life could be worth only five hundred bucks. That seemed so cheap and degrading.
“They can,” the woman told me. “And in this case, the Lord is just being a selfish piece of shit.”
Afterward, more of the Renaldi League were called to perform. Some of them were bought into different Leagues while others were bought by Renaldi, and the verdict was clear: those who were bought by Renaldi, men and women alike, seemed significantly less relieved than those who weren’t.
The last Renaldi League vampire to be auctioned was the woman next to me. When Kaylon called “Isora Harland!” she rose to her feet, her face drawn.
“Good luck,” I told her, meaning it.
She gave me an acknowledging nod before she took off.
Isora’s act was singing. Unfortunately, Cassidy’s earlier performance was still fresh in my mind, and in everyone else’s mind, too, because she sounded like a poor downgrade. She’d picked a promising Whitney Houston ballad, and she had a pretty voice, but she couldn’t possibly compare to Cassidy, neither in charisma, stage presence, or vocal abilities.
When she was done, she looked at the audience, trembling like a leaf from head to toe.
“Bidding starts now!” Kaylon exclaimed. “I see two hundred ... two fifty ... eight hundred by Lord Renaldi!”
Tears filled her eyes, and she shook her head silently, her eyes wide, pleading with the audience.
“Eight hundred going once . . .”
Her lips moved soundlessly. Was she praying?
“Eight hundred going twice . . .”
Her hands held on to one another for dear life.
Until—“We have a thousand from Lord Atalon!”
She froze. My heartbeat kicked up. It felt like everyone held their breath—or was it just me?—while Kaylon began the counting. “Going once ...”
Please let Atalon buy her,I thought, feeling for the woman. I didn’t even know why; it wasn’t like I knew her.
But knowing who Renaldi was, I couldn’t help but root for her.
“Going twice ...,” Kaylon continued, and it seemed as if he was drawling on purpose. Didn’t he see Isora was about to pass out from stress?
But then Kaylon finally said, “Sold to Lord Atalon!”
And just like that, Isora’s knees gave in, and she fell to the floor, bursting out in tears. I couldn’t help but clap along with the audience, feeling relieved for her.Good for you, Isora.
Since she couldn’t move, Kaylon had to help her off the stage. Once he was back, the Auction resumed, and this time, it was the O’Brien League’s turn.
As the vampires performed and were bought one after another, I couldn’t help but notice that Ragnor hadn’t bid on anyone yet.
It seemed that Ragnor really refrained from participating too much in the Auction, despite being its permanent host—since only the Rayne League had an auditorium big enough to hold the event.
One of the performances was a man showing off his robotics skills by introducing us to Tintin, a robot operating on an advanced form of artificial intelligence who was versed in psychology, thus able to act as a therapist (or so he tried to prove hilariously, causing the entire audience to laugh). During this act, Tansy, who’d been sitting quietly on the other side of me since the beginning, suddenly spoke. “Do you think they’re here?”
I turned to her and saw she was gazing at the stage, her expression distant. Debating whether I should engage in a conversation with her that was bound to be fruitless, I waited until Tintin and the man left the stage before I asked, “Who’s here?”
“Give a round of applause to the O’Brien League!” Kaylon roared, and the audience followed suit. “Now please welcome the newcomers of the Atalon League!”
